Community COVID-19 response in WHO's European region
Authors: Leonardo Palumbo, Camila A Picchio, Catherine Smallwood, Cristiana Salvi, Gerald Rockenschaub
Journal: The Lancet (2023)

The Risk Communication, Community Engagement, and Infodemic Management (RCCE-IM) unit of the WHO European region read the Correspondence by Ruth Kutalek and colleagues1Kutalek R Ahmed SM Kaawa-Mafigiri D Giles-Vernick T Community engagement: learning from low-income countries.Lancet. 2023; 401: 1767-1768Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (1) Google Scholar with interest. COVID-19 showed that RCCE-IM is an integral component of the emergency cycle, from preparedness to recovery. The authors rightly highlight that community engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs) deserves greater acknowledgment and investment to ensure sustainability in the long term, particularly in Europe. Kutalek and colleagues stated that "despite evidence for the effectiveness of community engagement in the pandemic response, precious little has been implemented in Europe's COVID-19 response to encourage non-pharmaceutical interventions to control transmission or to improve vaccine acceptance".1Kutalek R Ahmed SM Kaawa-Mafigiri D Giles-Vernick T Community engagement: learning from low-income countries.Lancet. 2023; 401: 1767-1768Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (1) Google Scholar Although we agree that more needs to be done, we take this opportunity to share examples from the European region that were part of a global initiative to strengthen community resilience. Health authorities collaborated with 54 CSOs in 40 countries worldwide, with WHO's support, to reach marginalised communities with non-pharmaceutical interventions to control COVID-19 transmission from February to December, 2021.2WHOCommunity assets and civil society outreach in critical times: an initiative to engage civil society organizations in the COVID-19 response. World Health Organization, Geneva2022Google Scholar A non-governmental organisation in Georgia, Union Sakhli, maintained access to services for women and girls at risk of, or who have experienced, domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consultations with 1000 women found that 80% had financial barriers to accessing personal protective equipment, which Union Sakhli then provided to beneficiaries (Tevzadze N, Union Sakhli, personal communication). In Kyrgyzstan, the Resource Center for the Elderly responded to the needs of older people in emergencies by engaging, enabling, and empowering them; older adults made and distributed 3000 fabric masks to the community. The project also resulted in the administration of over 18 000 new COVID-19 vaccination doses (Bashtovenko S, Resource Center for the Elderly, personal communication).3WHOCelebrating the CSO Initiative: building community readiness, response and resilience to emergencies.https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/26-01-2022-celebrating-the-cso-initiative-building-community-readiness-response-and-resilience-to-emergenciesDate: Jan 26, 2022Date accessed: August 18, 2023Google Scholar To empower Roma people to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and build resilience to respond to future emergencies, in North Macedonia, the Association for Emancipation, Solidarity, and Equality of Women (ESE) established three community boards in Roma settlements to develop community resilience plans, benefiting over 100 000 people (Pavlovski B, ESE, personal communication).2WHOCommunity assets and civil society outreach in critical times: an initiative to engage civil society organizations in the COVID-19 response. World Health Organization, Geneva2022Google Scholar The IDEAS Center for Research and Development of Society reached 2000 refugees and migrants in Serbia with culturally appropriate information on COVID-19, connecting them to health and social services. IDEAS ran training courses for health workers, health mediators, and health authorities (Milanovic M, IDEAS, personal communication).2WHOCommunity assets and civil society outreach in critical times: an initiative to engage civil society organizations in the COVID-19 response. World Health Organization, Geneva2022Google Scholar Although these efforts highlight the effect of community engagement, further implementation research is necessary to tailor engagement models to specific geographical, socioeconomic, and cultural differences. Such examples are often underutilised and overlooked in academic literature but, as countries rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic, they show the potential we have to transition towards comprehensive community engagement in emergency preparedness, particularly in the context of the future global health-security architecture. Projects carried out by the CSOs highlighted in this Correspondence received funding from the COVID-19 Solitary Fund. We declare no competing interests. We kindly thank the CSOs highlighted in this Correspondence who have also contributed to community-engagement work across the WHO European region—specifically, Svetlana Bashtovenko from the Resource Center for the Elderly; Jasminka Friscik, Borjan Pavlovski, Darko Antikj, and Stojan Mishev from the Association for Emancipation, Solidarity, and Equality of Women; Marko Milanovic from the IDEAS Center for Research and Development of Society; and Rusudan Pkhakadze and Natia Tevzadze from Union Sakhli. We also thank Nedret Emiroglu, Director of Country Readiness Strengthening for Health Emergencies at WHO; Nellie Kartoglu, Technical Officer for Partnerships and Community Readiness at WHO; Allison Ekberg, Arta Kuli, Almaz Zhumaliev, and Ivan Zivanov in WHO Country Offices; and Elsa Laino, former CSO Engagement Consultant at WHO, for their contributions to the implementation of these projects.